Tour de Bayou Stage 3 Race Report
Three years ago, in April, after completing my second-ever 5K in Round Rock, I was scouring the Houston Chronicle and saw entries for both Run The Woodlands 5K and Tour de Bayou. I thought they'd both be good for me since one was a $1 entry fee and the other was free.
One weekday evening (whether it was a Tuesday or a Wednesday I'm not sure) I drove down to the Memorial Drive area, parked close to Jackson Hill Park and walked across the bridge over Memorial as the race started on the south side. And at the bottom of the hill down by the Bayou. That was the second sign I was in trouble.
The first is when I got out and saw lots of people -- a lot thinner than me -- warming up and soon I realized that I was WAY out of my league, but I figured I had to start somewhere. At this point of time, I still had never been to Memorial Park and I had lived in Houston since late 1976.
The long story short is that as I was close to finishing the first loop and close to getting lapped (and maybe I had been), I made a convenient side exit right (as we were running towards Shepherd) back over the same bridge at Jackson Hill, got in the pickup truck and drove home. (My first of two career DNFs. The other, coincidentally, was at my first appearance ever at Run The Woodlands 5K.)
So tonight, despite the heat (which I need to run in more), was vindication in one sense.
My time wasn't brilliant on the hills and in the heat -- 48:11.56 for the approximate 4.4 miles (a pace of 10:58 per mile that felt like 12:58 per mile) but I was out doing something!
The first loop was in 23:12.04 (10:33 pace) and the second was in 24:59.52 (11:22 pace) and I thought that the course was tougher than the 2 miles that were run in September in the HARRA Cross Country Relay put on by the Tornados Running Club.
The course was an out-and-back meaning you got to see everyone twice as well as rubbing shoulders (literally) in some of the single track portions of the trail that we ran on. All I kept thinking about was how darn hard La Luz was going to be in August.
Many thanks, of course, to Roger Boak and Dr. Bob Hoekman and his AED/CPR team that was on the course - as they are at all HARRA events. (These guys never get enough credit for what they do for the Houston running community!) I told Roger on finishing the first loop that "I blog faster than what I was running today!"
As usual, I had Waverly with me and the opportunity to see and talk to lots of people that I knew. Before I had made it across Memorial Drive, I talked to the Houston Striders' Ted Traynor, who among others was surprised to see me there. We talked about Vancouver and the fact that he had lived there for a year. He suggested that I take the opportunity to explore the nuances of Stanley Park a bit more!
As I was signing the waiver, someone said "Hello!" I recognized the voice, indicated to them that I'd see who it was when I got done and soon realized that it was Lance Phegley, the editor of Inside Texas Running and Runner Triathlete News. (He introduced me to his brother and was telling him about the e-mails that I sent with the age group forecasts for Texans running the Boston Marathon. I think June's column will be a complete "Texans in Boston" wrapup -- there are some good stories that I haven't touched on in my blog -- with July looking like a report on all of the various running challenges in the state.)
Hans Jaegar, Ray Alexander and Robert Duncan -- all from the Seven Hills Running Club -- were in attendance. (It was good to see Ray back on the course. He had taken some time off and was running his first race since the Blue Bell Fun Run 5K last month.)
Right before the race, I also had the chance to saw Hi! to visit with Bayou City Road Runners president Joe Sellers, one of the really nice guys in town, Barry Chambers of the Striders, as well as the Striders outgoing president Sandy Wollangk, who was only doing one loop before taking one the MS150 on Saturday and Sunday.
Striders/HRBers in attendance included Steve Bezner and Jennifer Kim. Steve had already logged five (5) miles this morning; however, one of his co-workers had taken the AED/CPR training and Steve told him that he'd run the events if he was going to be out there volunteering. I don't believe that I had seen Steve since last month's HRB club meeting.
I also talked to Mary Spurlock from Sugar Land before the race. I had met Mary before the Buffalo Wallow 6K, but we had seen each other in late February out at Memorial Park when Cassie and I had been out there doing four (4) miles one morning. We talked with Steve Bezner about Surfside, Seabrook and trail running in general.
All in all a good time. I ran OK, but I'll get better running in the heat once I do more of it.
One weekday evening (whether it was a Tuesday or a Wednesday I'm not sure) I drove down to the Memorial Drive area, parked close to Jackson Hill Park and walked across the bridge over Memorial as the race started on the south side. And at the bottom of the hill down by the Bayou. That was the second sign I was in trouble.
The first is when I got out and saw lots of people -- a lot thinner than me -- warming up and soon I realized that I was WAY out of my league, but I figured I had to start somewhere. At this point of time, I still had never been to Memorial Park and I had lived in Houston since late 1976.
The long story short is that as I was close to finishing the first loop and close to getting lapped (and maybe I had been), I made a convenient side exit right (as we were running towards Shepherd) back over the same bridge at Jackson Hill, got in the pickup truck and drove home. (My first of two career DNFs. The other, coincidentally, was at my first appearance ever at Run The Woodlands 5K.)
So tonight, despite the heat (which I need to run in more), was vindication in one sense.
My time wasn't brilliant on the hills and in the heat -- 48:11.56 for the approximate 4.4 miles (a pace of 10:58 per mile that felt like 12:58 per mile) but I was out doing something!
The first loop was in 23:12.04 (10:33 pace) and the second was in 24:59.52 (11:22 pace) and I thought that the course was tougher than the 2 miles that were run in September in the HARRA Cross Country Relay put on by the Tornados Running Club.
The course was an out-and-back meaning you got to see everyone twice as well as rubbing shoulders (literally) in some of the single track portions of the trail that we ran on. All I kept thinking about was how darn hard La Luz was going to be in August.
Many thanks, of course, to Roger Boak and Dr. Bob Hoekman and his AED/CPR team that was on the course - as they are at all HARRA events. (These guys never get enough credit for what they do for the Houston running community!) I told Roger on finishing the first loop that "I blog faster than what I was running today!"
As usual, I had Waverly with me and the opportunity to see and talk to lots of people that I knew. Before I had made it across Memorial Drive, I talked to the Houston Striders' Ted Traynor, who among others was surprised to see me there. We talked about Vancouver and the fact that he had lived there for a year. He suggested that I take the opportunity to explore the nuances of Stanley Park a bit more!
As I was signing the waiver, someone said "Hello!" I recognized the voice, indicated to them that I'd see who it was when I got done and soon realized that it was Lance Phegley, the editor of Inside Texas Running and Runner Triathlete News. (He introduced me to his brother and was telling him about the e-mails that I sent with the age group forecasts for Texans running the Boston Marathon. I think June's column will be a complete "Texans in Boston" wrapup -- there are some good stories that I haven't touched on in my blog -- with July looking like a report on all of the various running challenges in the state.)
Hans Jaegar, Ray Alexander and Robert Duncan -- all from the Seven Hills Running Club -- were in attendance. (It was good to see Ray back on the course. He had taken some time off and was running his first race since the Blue Bell Fun Run 5K last month.)
Right before the race, I also had the chance to saw Hi! to visit with Bayou City Road Runners president Joe Sellers, one of the really nice guys in town, Barry Chambers of the Striders, as well as the Striders outgoing president Sandy Wollangk, who was only doing one loop before taking one the MS150 on Saturday and Sunday.
Striders/HRBers in attendance included Steve Bezner and Jennifer Kim. Steve had already logged five (5) miles this morning; however, one of his co-workers had taken the AED/CPR training and Steve told him that he'd run the events if he was going to be out there volunteering. I don't believe that I had seen Steve since last month's HRB club meeting.
I also talked to Mary Spurlock from Sugar Land before the race. I had met Mary before the Buffalo Wallow 6K, but we had seen each other in late February out at Memorial Park when Cassie and I had been out there doing four (4) miles one morning. We talked with Steve Bezner about Surfside, Seabrook and trail running in general.
All in all a good time. I ran OK, but I'll get better running in the heat once I do more of it.
posted by WalkSports.com | 11:32 PM
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